Celebrating 10 years of the Yogyakarta Principles: What have we learnt and where to now?
of LGBTI people to participate in cultural rights, but does not touch on the right to be protected from
violence based on culture. Unique indigenous cultural belief and practices that value gender fluidity and
diverse identities are also not currently covered in the Principles.
The Yogyakarta Principles do not identify and define extremism and fails to recognise the impact of
violence on the health and well-being of individuals. Draft operational/programmatic guidance on
violations of human rights by state actors and secondly by non-state actors in all levels need to be
elaborated. The Principles also do not include cybercrimes/attacks on LGBTI individuals, which should be
included in any revision or update.
LGBTI youth, intersex people and asylum seekers, the right to freedom of association (especially in the
context of requirements on CSOs to register with the government and restrictions on receiving foreign
funding), as well as freedom of expression are not adequately covered in the Principles. There was some
discussion about the Principles providing negative legal protection – a suggestion was to include a
positive freedom to engage in private, consensual adult sexual activity.
Legal enforceability and recognition of the Yogyakarta Principles by courts, and other processes must
be addressed. Similarly, there is inadequate coverage on accountability of stakeholders and compliance
monitoring. Establishing a more explicit link to domestic law – identifying gaps in domestic law and
follow through in areas where there is lack of consistency is required. There is a need to address the
issue of States selectively complying with the Principles, while ignoring some crucial Principles. The lack
of legal enforceability of the Principles requires additional provisions to develop a sophisticated means
of monitoring states’ compliance with the Principles, and reporting and even indexing States’ relative
success in complying with the Principles.
In order to address the gaps in relation to legal oppression, the sphere of criminalisation of LGBT
activities and oppression need to be addressed. With the increased expansion of restriction into the
digital/online space, there should be more guidance on the human rights impact of such restrictions.
In addition, expansion of exemptions (such as based on faith), oppressive tolerance (laws that promote
stereotypes) and restrictions on sexual and reproductive health rights must be addressed better in future
revisions. Other areas such as privacy, the human rights of sex workers, domestic violence, and enforced
disappearance need to be addressed further.
The Principles also need to further recognise the engagement with international human rights mechanism,
such as the UPR process, special procedures, and treaty bodies. The role of the Human Rights Council
and engagement of CSOs with the international human rights mechanisms and their capacity building can
be further elaborated.
Mapping of treaty bodies and their relevance and effectiveness in engaging with individual countries in
relation to the Principles, as well as including a recognition of the important role of the Independent Expert
is essential. There should also be more emphasis on the role of NHRIs in relation to the implementation of
the Principles.
There is no reference to the SDGs in the Yogyakarta Principles (the Principles pre-date the SDGs). Due to
this, the SDGs are often overlooked in SOGIESC advocacy. It was suggested that the issue of application
of SDGs to SOGIESC can be included in any supplementary materials on the Principles. Addressing
data gaps – building on peer reviewed data as a tool for advocacy, but also ensuring that the Yogyakarta
Principles are respected in data collection are suggested to further enhance the effectiveness of Principles
application, especially in relation to SDGs.
7.4. AREAS FOR SUPPORT AND COORDINATION
Exploring areas for enhancing support and cooperation between NHRIs, CSOs, UN agencies, advocates
and scholars to protect and promote the rights of LGBTI people was identified as one of the key objectives
of the Conference. To this effect, the need to create a better dialogue with all stakeholders in relation to
multiple forms of violations, and work out better mechanisms for cooperation and inter-agency support
were identified throughout the discussions. It was recognised that the role of NHRIs in working with
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